


Vivacity

by unwindmyself



Series: curious shapes shift in the dark [5]
Category: True Blood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Babysitting, Fae & Fairies, Fix-It, Fluff, Gen, Sisters, agency and choices!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-05
Updated: 2013-10-05
Packaged: 2017-12-28 11:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/991564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwindmyself/pseuds/unwindmyself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sookie, Lafayette, the currently preadolescent Bellefleur girls, and impromptu adventures in babysitting.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Vivacity

**Author's Note:**

> Part two, "Down With the Shine."

“You gonna be good closing up?” Sookie asks, though she’s already reaching to untie her apron strings.

“Yeah, I done it plenty of times when all y’alls asses were deep in some magical mystery,” Lafayette counters.  “I’m just countin’ myself blessed that you’re showin’ up to work at all, I ain’t gonna push my luck.”

Well, with the world as it is, maybe that’s the only option.  Despite it being Sam’s bar, _he_ hasn’t actually come in to work since before the whole mess at the Authority (nobody blames him, and at least according to Lafayette, who’s been taking care of the place in the interim and keeping Sam updated as much as he's gotta, he makes sort of a cute nurse/babysitter for Luna and Emma) and Holly, who was the other waitress tonight, split half an hour ago to deal with some mischief her boys got into.  Right now it’s a miracle there’s anyone working at all.

“’Sides,” Lafayette continues, rolling his eyes over to the only occupied table in the place even as Sookie steps into the back to grab her sweater and bag.  “All I got left to deal with is the sheriff and his, he ain’t gonna give me any trouble.”

“We’ll make sure of it,” one of his daughters – the one wearing the cowboy hat, Danika – giggles, grinning up at Lafayette.

Just as Andy’s phone rings.

“Daddy, no phones at the table,” Braelyn of the glitter boots whines, because since that’s the rule at home, it should count here too.

“It’s work, sweet pea,” Andy apologizes as he inches out of the booth.

He doesn’t travel far to take the call since there’s not really any reason to, and it’s a wonder he does at all because the girls are all listening in quite obviously, looking eager as anything, and they’re not gonna miss anything either, but old habits.

Soon, though, their faces all fall in unison as Andy hangs up and returns to the table, grumbling.  All the while tugging on her knee socks, Adilyn exclaims, “Vampire stuff _again_?”

“’Fraid so,” Andy sighs.

“Damn vampires,” little Charlaine mutters.

“Language!” Adilyn chides – she’s the oldest by a whole thirty seconds, it’s her job to do things like that.

“I guess you already figured out I gotta go,” Andy continues. 

“We’re still eating, though,” Braelyn attempts.

“And Lafayette told us we could have ice cream sundaes,” Charlaine adds.

Andy pulls a face.  “Well, I don’t really like the idea of tryin’ to take you home when there’s vampire sh – _stuff_ goin’ on I gotta deal with,” he concedes, and he glances over at Lafayette too.  In most towns, this would be an odd request, but in Bon Temps it’s probably one of the more normal things that’s ever happened.  “You mind watching them for a few hours?”

“Yeah!” Charlaine and Danika shout in unison.  “Pleeeease?”

“Please please please?” Adilyn and Braelyn join in.

Well, as far as the girls are concerned Lafayette is way more interesting and way cooler than most of the grown-ups they know.  And ice cream is a very powerful motivator.

It makes for an amusing sight, these pre-pre-teen-looking baby fairies all doing their very best puppy dog eyes; Charlaine actually has her hands clasped together like a prayer, Braelyn looks like she’s trying to make her bottom lip wobble like in a cartoon.  Sookie just has to stop and regard them with raised eyebrows when she comes back into the main room, turning to fix Lafayette with her own stare before commenting, “There’s gotta be a good explanation for those faces.”

“Somehow I’m about to get stuck with babysitting duty,” Lafayette says.

“Pretty please?” the girls all chorus.

Sookie gives a little sigh and tosses her bag down on the counter.  “Guess you’re gonna want me to stick around after all,” she declares, and that clinches it.  It’s hardly an imposition to her – she didn’t exactly have more interesting plans than read a book and try to avoid her psycho killer ex, and if Andy’s got to go deal with vampire shit not half a mile from here, and she knows that he does ‘cause she heard it, she doesn’t much wanna be out.  Besides, the kids are pretty sweet.

“Y’all are lifesavers,” Andy says, kissing each of his daughters on the top of the head before he hurries for the door.  “I’ll be back for ‘em in a few hours, or I’ll call.  Hopefully it’s nothin’ serious, just the usual sh – _stupid stuff_.”

“Bye, Daddy,” Danika and Braelyn say.

“Don’t get hurt,” Charlaine adds.

“Yeah, be careful,” Adilyn corrects.

The second Andy’s out the door, though, all four of them jump out of their booth and swarm the bar eagerly; Sookie can hear the sounds of their heels hitting the rungs on the barstools, and they lean forward with their most angelic expressions.

“I thought y’all had dinner to finish,” Lafayette says archly, nodding back at their abandoned plates.

“We ate most of it,” Danika says.  “The important parts.”

“I was saving my fries for last, though,” Charlaine pouts, prompting her sisters to nod along with her fervently.  “And now I bet they’re all cold.”

“Yeah,” the other three agree sweetly.

“You buyin’ this?” Sookie asks, trying not to laugh even as she goes to pick the plates up.  Might as well do her job while she’s still here.

“Nah,” Lafayette says.  “But the customer’s always right.”  As he moves back to the kitchen, then: “Anyway, these four are sorta the Merlotte’s mascots now, I’d hate to disappoint ‘em.”

“Fair enough,” Sookie agrees with a chuckle.  She pops behind the bar and starts rummaging, which causes the girls to immediately lean even further forward and stare.

“If you’re makin’ drinks from a bar, you should at least put liquor in them,” Braelyn announces before Sookie’s even stood back up.

“Hey, now your daddy’s told you it’s not nice to listen in on people,” Sookie admonishes.

“Once or twice,” Adilyn admits, wrinkling her nose.

“And your daddy’s only talkin’ from the other side of it,” Sookie continues, finally resurfacing with a carton of orange juice and a tumbler and making sure to keep her tone gentle.  “Trust me, people don’t like bein’ listened to and you probably won’t like a lot of what you hear.”

Danika stares at Sookie _hard_ for a minute, and in that way they do the others all follow suit, until Danika proclaims, even though it’s sort of saying what they all already knew, “You can do it too.”

“Uh-huh,” Sookie agrees.

“That is so _cool_!” Braelyn shouts.  “Ohmygosh, so if you're a fairy too, does that mean we're actually related?”

“Not as far as I know,” Sookie says, nodding to the carton.  “Y’all want juice?”

“I wanna Shirley Temple,” Charlaine exclaims.

“Me too,” the other three echo.

Little kid groupthink.  It’s sorta cute when it’s not unnerving, not that it would really unnerve Sookie that much at this point.

“Then four Shirley Temples, comin’ up,” Sookie announces, setting her juice down and going back to the mini-fridge for sodas, decaffeinated if she can help it.  “Anyway, both my parents were human, my fairy ties are farther back than that, and far’s I know my kin don’t connect to yours by blood.”

“Oh,” Adilyn says, just slightly sad.  What Sookie said before is true: their daddy means well, but there’s only so much he can really understand about the half of them that isn’t from him.  It would have been awesome to have a cool fairy cousin or something.  Sookie’s the next best thing, though.

“But they know each other?” Charlaine presses.  “Our families.”

“Yeah,” Sookie says. 

“D’you know our mom?” Danika asks.

“I met her once,” Sookie amends.  “Got introduced by – I guess he’s kinda my fairy godfather now?”

“Why’d she leave?” Braelyn frowns suddenly.  “Did she not love us?”

“Well, that happened fast,” Lafayette mutters, sliding back in and passing out plates of French fries.

“It’s different for fairies, I think,” Sookie muses.  “I mean, I only found out I _was_ part-fairy a couple years ago, I dunno everything there is to know about ‘em, but I’m sure she loves you and maybe she just knows your daddy’s gonna be better at raisin’ kids than she would be.”

“Daddy worries all the time,” Adilyn confides, sprinkling salt on the fries and thoughtfully reaching for one to munch.  “He’s afraid he’s gonna screw it up.”

“Language,” Charlaine says mockingly, rolling her eyes.

“Whatever, screw ain’t a bad word,” Adilyn retorts.

“I think your daddy’s doin’ as good at this as he can, with what little he’s got to go on,” Lafayette decides.  “Certainly could be doin’ a lot worse.”  He goes to sneak a fry, then immediately wrinkles his nose – liking them that salty and still not retaining water must be a fairy thing, ‘cause he’s never known a human who could get away with it.

Sookie hands over the tray of Shirley Temples, regarding the girls for a moment as she tries to find a change of subject that isn’t discussing parenting skills with four ten-year-olds/infants.  “I keep meanin’ to tell you guys, I like your charm bracelets,” she finally says.  Compliments work on anyone, and the bracelets are easy – simple, only one charm apiece, but fun.  “They’re real cute.”

“Holly picked them out,” Danika exclaims.  “I like my charm best, see, it’s a box that actually sorta opens.”

“You can’t keep anything in it,” Braelyn rolls her eyes.  “And even if you could it’d be too small, so I dunno what the big deal is.”

“My penguin’s got a bow on,” Charlaine interrupts, lifting her wrist right up so Sookie and Lafayette can peer at the bracelet.  “Her name’s Penny.”

“How do you know it’s a girl penguin?” Lafayette asks.

“’Cause she’s got a bow,” Charlaine says, like it’s obvious.  “And it’s pink.  And there’s a heart on her face, and that’s pink too.”

Lafayette raises an eyebrow.  “I seen boys wearin’ pink bows before,” he tells her.

“Huh,” Charlaine frowns, then deciding, “If I get another penguin he’ll be a boy, then.  But Penny’s a girl.”

Lafayette and Sookie shrug at each other, almost-but-not-quite-smiling, before Sookie feels compelled to add, since the fourth girl has been quiet for a little while, “And Adilyn, I really like your… cat ears.”

Adilyn reaches to touch her headband – indeed, with adornments shaped like the outline of cat ears – and beams.  “Thanks!” she chirps.

“Any reason for ‘em?” Lafayette asks.

Adilyn shrugs, all of them shrug.  They’re at the age where they see cute/flashy/colorful/sparkly/fun things and put them on without much thinking about it.  “I like cats?” she attempts.

“You’ve never even seen a cat for reals,” Braelyn points out.

“I like cartoon cats,” Adilyn defends, then turning to ask Sookie, “You ever seen _Sailor Moon_?  Those cats are cool.  The little one’s purple.”

“I feel like I musta seen it once or twice,” Sookie concedes – it rings a distant bell, at least.

“Do either of y'all have cats?” Adilyn continues eagerly.

“Do either of y’all have change is the more important thing,” Braelyn declares.  “I wanna start the jukebox.”

“Did anyone clean the pool table after our mom gave birth on it?” Charlaine questions.  “If they didn’t that would be gross.”

“Can we have ice cream now?”  Danika pleads.

Lafayette glances down at the mostly-eaten fries, then at the girls’ eager faces, and sighs.  It’s surprisingly hard to say no to them.  “Don’t come whinin’ to me if y’all get nasty stomachaches.”  To Sookie he whispers, “It’s gonna be a long night.”


End file.
